Microsoft is sending a clear message that it wants to reach consumers on popular mobile platforms. That’s an understandable move, but with a lack of a true Windows Phone flagship this holiday and hints that unique features like Cortana will make their way to Android and iOS, it leaves Windows Phone in an odd spot. If all of Microsoft’s core apps and services work better on Android and iOS, it makes Windows Phone a lot less appealing. If Microsoft can’t even make good apps for Windows, there’s not a lot of hope left for third-party app developers to build for Microsoft’s mobile platform. Couple that with the Windows tablet and phone app gap, and the future looks increasingly bleak. Appealing to Android and iOS users might be Microsoft’s goal, but there’s only so long Windows users will remain loyal.
While Microsoft has shifted focus back on traditional desktop Windows, Windows’ Metro environment and Windows Phone seem to be on a path towards irrelevance. Microsoft’s own applications for these platforms suck, third party applications generally suck or do not exist at all, while Microsoft’s applications on iOS and Android are thriving and well-received.
It’s easy to read too much into this – but it’s also very hard not to.
Turns out Satya Nadella read consumer history at school, which reads something like “there’s a place for monopolies, duopolies, but not triopolies”.
So he’s turning it into a service company. Good move. The only move.
Too bad they did not figure it out before destroying Nokia.
If I were Microsoft I would make sure that cygwin apps run at native speed in windows 10. Possibly by creating a sane POSIX layer. This would steal a lot of thunder from OSX and Linux/BSDs.
Imagine an open source .Net only a ./configure && make install away on windows.
Other wise they could help with msys2/mingw ports.
again imagine an open source .Net only a ./configure && make install away on windows.
Edited 2014-11-13 14:22 UTC
Windows NT family had a UNIX personality since the beginning.
Most Windows developers didn’t care and is of Windows 8 deprecated.
Unix services for Windows has been removed from Windows 8.1 and from Windows Server 2012 R2 (sice 2002 has been named as Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA)). It was never complete IIRC, supported only one application at time etc. It was intended for POSIX “compatibility” required by law in the USA for goverment bussines.
Edited 2014-11-13 17:12 UTC
That would be quite ironic since the Windows Gold Disk removes the POSIX compatiblity…
It was never very performant. In fact, it was implemented to help UNIX devs move to Windows, then convince them to use the more performance Win32 API. It was an EEE action employed to bring more apps to WinNT when WinNT was the new kid on the block. The basic thing line would go:
Customer: POSIX?
Microsoft: We support that.
Customer installs application under POSIX on WinNT.
Customer: How do I get it to handle 1000 simultaneous web requests?
Vendor: It can’t? UNIX version can.
Microsoft: You can’t; they have to port it to Win32 API.
Customer: We just spent all this money on Windows systems to replace the UNIX systems; make it work on Windows.
Vendor ports to Win32 API; UNIX version ends up dead.
No Windows users care about cygwin. If you need to run linux apps, run linux.
I’ve been caring about cygwin since 1999 when I first discovered it. Its made the command line in windows usable powershell’s not bad, but stil prefer cygwin) . Plus, I remember it being somewhat portable at least back then. So I had a copy on a network share that could be used whatever computer I was on.
JPSoft was making the Windows command-line bearable since the Window 95 era (maybe sooner, but that’s when I discovered it) via their 4DOS and 4NT replacements for command.com/cmd.exe. With those installed, I never found a use for cygwin.
I eventually gave up on 4DOS/4NT and cygwin and just used PuTTY to SSH to my FreeBSD/Linux boxes and used Windows simply as a window manager (which it still isn’t good for). For the 2 Windows systems I have left, that is. Everything else runs FreeBSD or Linux.
I don’t get this whole “loyal” thing. Some customers think that buying something from a company gives that company an obligation to them in some way. Companies don’t think in those terms. It isn’t a feudal society – customers are not serfs.
That said, I still have a Windows 7 phone that I managed to get and install the unofficial update to version 7.8. I hardly get any app updates anymore, some apps are no longer in the store so I can’t reinstall them when they repeatedly crash. So it is pretty much a dead end.
I still like Windows Phone OS but, as the article stated, some of us have been stung by a non-upgradeable path from WP7 which left a bitter taste in my mouth. It will always be in the back of my mind if MS will do the same abandon the Windows 8 phones when Windows 10 comes out. And these news blips erode my confidence further.
I am considering upgrading to the 735 which is very slowly working its way to the US market but only because of price. Their previous midrange Nokia offerings have been disappointing. Right now, if a competitive Android phone came along, I would definitely consider it especially since my tablets are all Android.
And Windows tablets? They are another mess that in my mind shows MS still doesn’t understand consumers.
Edited 2014-11-13 14:38 UTC
Windows 8 phones are getting a free upgrade to Windows 10.
Whatever the reason behind weak Microsoft apps on WP, it is good to see that Microsoft isn’t excessively holding back other dev teams or projects artificially for the sake of ego-marketing.
of course, and especially if there are major platform updates coming down the pipeline then it would be obvious from an internal perspective that they need to target the new platform and not the old one
Metro and windows phone were irrelevant from the beginning. Nothing MS has done with either has improved that situation.
Metro and windows phone were irrelevant from the beginning. Nothing MS has done with either has improved that situation.
oops, sorry, duplicate post.
I agree with both of your posts concerning Microsoft’s relevance in Windows phone. They have a great phone OS. That, however, won’t drive customer’s to it as long as carriers push the Android and iOS flavor of the day.
I like how OSNews cites another opinion article on how Windows is doomed and Microsoft is painted into a corner…and does not cite actually interesting things going on at Microsoft like the open sourcing of server side of .NET.
http://www.wired.com/2014/11/microsoft-open-sources-net-says-will-r…
I suspect the reason why the IOS and Android apps may have a few extra features is because those OSs have fully gelled and Microsoft is migrating to Windows Phone 10, which will change a few things on the programming front in the future. With more users and the integration of Windows on all hardware types, you will see the applications improve and probably surpass the counterparts. That would be the only reason to even have your own phone OS. They talk like the applications on Windows Phone 8 are crap, which is far from reality…at least they keep running and not crashing for no reason like on Android. Not to mention all of the devs in Microsoft that are telling us Windows apps are going to be the primary focus.
There are a lot of great things going on at the company in a direction that is unprecedented and I think the company is going to make some real money embracing as many customers as possible with as many MS services and applications as possible. MS is actually ahead of many others in many areas of integration and cloud services over most other companies. Windows is still the dominant force on the desktop and despite the less reliance on people to use PCs over mobile devices, laptops and PCs are still are not going away. It would be great to get some coverage of actual programming/OS work being done at Microsoft instead of opinion articles. The new CEO at MS is going in the right direction. the future for Microsoft is far from “bleak”. I suspect in the next few years they will be making money on all these new efforts like mad. Microsoft Asure is just the start.
Edited 2014-11-13 15:54 UTC
Hey, RTFW:
http://www.osnews.com/story/28055/Microsoft_is_open_sourcing_NET_fr…
No, it’s pretty bleak. Windows 8 was a complete disaster, Windows Phone is not gaining any traction, Surface isn’t either (unless you count CNN using them as iPad stands!) and Xbox is getting owned by the PS4 (and has YET to turn a profit on it’s own!).
Windows “10” is still in testing, and nothing indicates that their CORE business of selling software to corporations and governments is going to keep selling at the pace they have been with Windows 7!
They are still raking in record profits, yes…but the FUTURE of the company, and their profits, is VERY much in trouble!
Complete disaster? You are comparing one Microsoft product (Win 7) to another (Win 8) in popularity and calling it “bleak”…without realizing that there are more Windows 8 installations on the desktop then all Mac and Linux users combined. I would not call that a complete failure.
Not sure about that, it’s been slow and steady but enterprise features have not even been rolled out yet. With more time, you will see enterprise adoption that will cause marketshare gains.
Surface 3 is selling ok and making the company money. Surface 4 is on the way.
Xbox one just started outselling PlayStation 4 last month and I suspect price drops will only help the situation. Losing money on consoles? Perhaps, but they must get paid on the games sold. Total failure? Nope.
Win 10 is very early in development. Addressing concerns of customers and making Win 10 work on all platforms, its going to make this the Windows 7 from Vista event in the future.
As a shareholder, yes they are making record profits. They are also at an all time high for stock price. Very must in trouble, I don’t see it and there is no proof of that, especially as Microsoft expands into all platforms and cloud services. Money to be made all over the place. Windows on the desktop is not going away because there is nothing better out there to replace it and nothing out there that can support existing business applications.
Edited 2014-11-14 01:38 UTC
Win8 is not a failure, I give you that. My predictions is more like, that people are too unwillingly and do not feel that they have the time or lack the skills to switch from a preinstalled operating system.
U know: “Soooo hard to to download an iso, burn and install”.
My prediction on why Win8 is more populair, is not that they like Win8. There are more to it, than meets the eye.
Actually a lot more I guess. Lack of skills, lack of time, misconceptions on what and how stuff works, and a great lot of other things. Like the average probaganda and stuff. Might even be, that people really need to use The real office pack (not the mobile version) and hence that, can not switch.
Personally, I don’t care for computers with Windows, and since this is an article on the Windows Phone, and not Windows in general, I still say, that the Windows Phone is lacking features, and yes…. There are more Linux out there, than NT based installations, if we talk about mobile/phone editions. And I have not even thought about how many mobile Unix installations in this. You know…. Android is based on Linux and iOS is based on Unix. In the same matter and way that Windows Phone is based on NT. They are all stripped down versions of the real deal.
Edited 2014-11-14 08:41 UTC
No, xbox did not outsell ps4:
http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/16/september-2014-npd-ps4-outsells-x…
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4-tops-xbox-one-in-october-npd-n…
And the cherry on the top of the ice cream turd that are the xbone sales:
Since then, the company has only released quarterly reports on how many total Xbox systems have shipped, lumping the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One together, which obscures the new console’s true market performance.
Windows 8 tablet apps ARE dogshit. They’re all some combination of buggy, incomplete, overpriced, or adware, and there’s too damn few of them. Even standbys like Kindle are crap on Metro – a quad core Bay Trail Atom should NOT be lagging more than a Nexus 4 when pushing the same amount of pixels and reading an ebook. The whole platform is an abortion.
I wonder if Microsoft is visualizing a time when “smartphones” as they exist today are over. Cheap Windows tablets are now around $100. Consider if the specs were upped a bit and the size was reduced a bit, then a cellular radio was added. You would have a full Windows computer that was hand held in size but capable of making calls. Tile interface for “on the go” and docked on a desk could drive a full sized monitor and keyboard with “desktop mode” Windows. This could happen in 2015. Windows Phone would be obsolete.
They tried that with Windows CE – trying to adapt the Windows desktop to a smaller screen.
Edited 2014-11-13 18:35 UTC
Is that what the original poster meant? I think he meant something like the Ubuntu Edge, a smartphone that when docked would provide you with a complete desktop environment. IMHO, we will get there some day.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_Edge
I imagine a future where desktops are gone…replaced by those same smartphones. Running neither Windows nor running on x86 legacy hardware. Why do you “need” Windows? Brand loyalty? App compatibility? Most anything you can do on a desktop, INCLUDING RUNNING MS OFFICE, can be done on a smartphone or tablet.
On my Note 4, I can even apps in multiple windows. So tell me again why I need MS?
There are many types of applications that can not be done on a small screen efficiently. CAD, Accounting, CAM, simulation and hundreds of other areas where a PC will always be required. Also, PC has much more horsepower typically than mobile devices. You can imagine, but it’s probably not going to happen.
Not to mention developing those damn apps. A modern developer today is nowhere close being able to develop without a true desktop. We’re talking full fledged IDEs, lots of terminal windows, various file network connections, tons of browser tabs with documentaion, various virtual machines, all running at once.
People in general have no fucking idea how much work is behind stable and reliable software. They’re shocked shen they’re shown that development is not just drag and drop but actually thousands of lines of code written by hand.
Ubuntu already had that vision. Ubuntu’s Unity 8 will provide the convergence.
Microsoft burned a lot of people when the didn’t provide an upgrade path from Windows 7 to 8. Fortunately, this time they have provided 2 paths for Windows 8+ users – Android and IOS.
Let me try to understand here…. Microsoft intends to port applications to the very same OS that they once intended to destroy. I would have a more positive feeling about this if they would stop extorting money from the Android handset makers….
… now it all makes sense! No wonder they want Android to succeed!
Yeah….
We all bitch now, when we realize that Microsoft is starting to jump ship, away from Windows as we know it.
On the other hand, this is what we all have been raving about, for the last decade or even longer.
Actually…. MS would do fine, sticking to the classic Windows aproach, and then offer programs and suite’s for other operating systems as well.
Personally, I would like to see MS-Office and Visual Studio running natively on Linux and OsX.
Not just Office for Android or iOS. Wich gives me a somewhat blend or indifferent feeling all together.
They probably will never port .net to OS X or Linux. Without WPF it would be difficult and Linux really is still crazy fragmented. They are making efforts to run .net apps on other platforms but we are far from the point, probably due to technical issues where we can click a check box to compile to Linux/os x/ etc.
They already have ported .NET to Linux and Mac. It’s called “.NET Core” and is capable of running the next-generation ASP.NET stack. Mono is also a variant of .NET that runs on Mac and Linux, as is Silverlight/Moonlight. Now that .NET is open-source these projects will all be sharing code with one another so that by the next major version Microsoft’s official .NET ought to be more or less a first-class citizen on Mac and Linux.
Of course WPF is a different story as it’s tightly bound to various Windows APIs. But expect pretty much every other part of .NET to become available on all platforms in the not-so-distant future.
P.S. Even though Visual Studio will continue to be Windows-only (it is built on WPF after all) Microsoft is officially supporting Xcode on Mac and Eclipse on Linux, plus IntelliJ IDEA has always had good .NET support. So in the future there isn’t really much holding anyone back from using .NET technologies regardless of whether they’re on Windows or not. … whether they actually *will* though remains to be seen.
Edited 2014-11-14 18:57 UTC
For the fragmentation part is irrelevant. Just release a version for this distros: Redhat, Suse and Ubuntu then ignore the rest.
I’m having a stupid feeling that Microsoft would build a cloud-based operating system from scratch. And I do not think that CEO Satya Nadella is willing to maintain the NT-based operating systems in the near future.
That’s how rumors get started. Win 10 will be the closest thing to a MS cloud OS.
I really do not hope that they focus too much. Nokia did some bad decisions, and my initial thoughts were when they bought nokia. That they would run this platform even further down the drain. Just as they had to give up the kin. I might be right on this, that they can not handle to be a phone and phonesoftware developer at the same time.
One (or many as I should say) things that are bothering me about Windows Phone, is that I lack a really great number of features. Shure what they have works good and even better than android on the same specs, are basic features. Why can I not do stuff like looking at a text messages information? Why does it not display the actual number that I am texting with, from within the message? Not even when multiple numbers are linked to the same contact. Wich in terms also means that I have no idea, if I am writing to mobile phone number one or two.
They should focus on more features, as the WP-Os is quite good and easy to use. I really do both love and hate my Limia 630.
When you text with someone on wp8 you see their name if the number is linked to your contact list. You can of course link multiple numbers and contact information to the same person. I have one contact that has seven different accounts links. You have to manage and merge your contacts if they did not get linked automatically.
The truth is that Microsoft has not been a hardware company. They have tried and tried much harder than anybody else. They have spent a huge amount of resources, human, money, marketing, everything. But, they keep being a software company.
Software is what Microsoft does better. It hard to find Microsoft hardware that has been a great success. OK, the Xbox, maybe. And mice and keyboards, too. But, what else? (Maybe I’m wrong in this point, I would be happy to be corrected.)
In the other hand, Microsoft is really good in software. I’m not a Windows user, but I believe that their software is pretty good. Obviously there are many problems in quality, ui, monopolistic practices, etc., but nobody is perfect.
i can’t even imagine having gone this far ignoring iOS and/or android. it’s like 1999 for some people – all microsoft all the time.
there could be a nerd sitcom there.
i think it would be funny to redo drama’s from the 90’s (like x-files) with tech of now.
the show would be over in 3 minutes. they would just text or facetime each other, and use the internet to research and contact about 90% of the mysterious players. then there would be a google hangout with their bosses in washington and the show would be over. scully and mulder would have lots of free time in seedy hotels 😉
http://wmpoweruser.com/microsoft-tops-exxonmobil-to-become-2nd-bigg…
Yup, they are definitely big! Which is the problem. Remember the days when IBM ruled desktop computing? They lost out to the much smaller, more nimble Microsoft. Now MS is far larger than IBM was…and even LESS responsive to changes in the market! Just look at what they have been doing lately:
1) trying to “own” the living room with Xbox…when the real battle is in mobile devices.
2) arriving YEARS late to the smartphone market, killing off Nokia in the process of trying to establish even a TINY foothold in that market.
3) arriving YEARS late to the tablet market, and succeeding only in making very expensive ipad stands.
4) destroying their Windows brand with “Metro” and a closed ecosystem.
So yeah, they are large…but in this industry that is NOT a positive!
Microsoft is not IBM. IBM tried to make everyone stay with proprietary hardware and software with no advantage, and without proper marketing (see how they dropped the ball with OS/2). Microsoft is going in just the opposite direction.
XBOX is just a small part of Microsoft. Obviously it’s that divisions job to try and own the living room because no one really does yet.
Microsoft got Nokia for a song. Just the application work on WP8 and patents were worth it. The hardware part was just a bonus.
Surface Pro 3 is no slouch, and is making in roads despite what peoples opinion say. Surface 4 is on the way. Running desktop apps on a tablet is a new concept in itself and if MS did not get it 100% right on the first time out, I suspect Win 10 will rectify many issues. Apps store has been growing and is over 1/2 million apps at this point. iPad, no. Progress? for sure.
Metro was not something that would take over the desktop that I believed some people at MS believed, but many of those leaders are gone. Metro will be molded into something that can be used in the start menu and on touch devices. It’s still better than GNOME lol
Being large makes it easier to make small mistakes. MS is in many areas, many of which make a lot of cash. What happens when people are hooked on Office on iPad, Android and iPhone? They start buying services, add ons and subscriptions. They buy an Xbox, it’s a subscription. OneDrive? You guessed it, cloud subscription. MS’s online model will surpass Google’s offerings.
What I don’t get is for years everyone is bitching about how MS should bring their software and services to other platforms, and now the new CEO says anything goes and people still dump on the company.
Edited 2014-11-14 20:36 UTC
” If all of Microsoft’s core apps and services work better on Android and iOS, it makes Windows Phone a lot less appealing.”
That quote so reminded me of a ton of the reviews I used to read about writing apps for OS/2. It has finally come full circle.
I do admit that time is money and it takes thousand or more line of code that need to be checked.
Oh wait both pay apps and free apps have problem with them.
1. they forget to clear variable value before use for the first time.
2. try to avoid using arays or protect them from accessing location < 0 or > max aray size.
3. 0 day problem should be check for.
4. testing for string value when you are expecting a number.
5. lazy programming ideal.
6. if it and input from unknown source then verify it ok.
7. coding that make the software to slow to use.
8. trying to use global variable, avoid unless the variable is a complex pointer.
9. when come to some bug, if its impossible to do it then don’t worry about it. The need someone to hit the # 5 on a keyboard between 3:00am and 3:01am on a February 29 during a full moon with mouse left button press on start. This would send the whole database to every person who email begin with e. The odd is all the computer are off at that time or nobody around.
10. if a version of a certain a paid program is concerted abandonware, a piece of software that you can’t get help for at all though the company that own that software for free and you need to pay to upgrade. That old software should be allowed to be passed around for free. Come on guy I know you worked hard to write the code, why do you need to hog it when you not using it.
11. changing the GUI without an option for user to choice what GUI they like. Put the GUI you want us to try but give us the option to change.
12. I like to see more places that you can get source code for every software that not being protect. For a short time, the total job can be protected, not small parts.
13. writing example
temp_value = value1
value1 = value2
value2 = temp_value
shouldn’t be block for anyone to used.
14 putting copy protecting is a dumb ideal because it doesn’t stop anyone from pirate it and makes it harder for the real customer from using your software.
15 online only version, this sound good to make sure that the person who uses it is a paid customer, but there that one time that you need the info or just get the file to find out the server is down for short term/long term. No online server safe, maybe better then you home computer, but by much. There away should be offline version even if it limited.
I could go on and on but nothing going to change.